Skip to main content

KEEP UP PRESSURE ON CORRUPTION


There has been a flurry of activity surrounding corruption in recent weeks, with a few public officials caught red handed taking bribes.

The public deprived of services because of a few greedy individuals are understandably gleeful. 

However they are also those who are a bit sceptical, wondering whether this campaign will last or will peter out along the way.

It is heartening to see that President Yoweri Museveni has put his full weight behind the latest attempt and provides a positive signal to all parties concerned. He should be supported by every well-meaning Ugandan so that this drive does not fizzle out in a few weeks.

I choose to be optimistic about this anti-corruption drive, because rolling back the endemic that corruption has become, is one of the first steps we need to take towards attaining middle income status as a nation and for any other meaningful development we hope to see in the future.

We see it in our daily lives.

Beyond the morality of not taking what is not yours, corruption has wide reaching negative effects not only for the economy but for our individual advancement.

At the most basic level corruption concentrates resources in a few hands. A billion shillings stolen from the state coffers or extorted from an investor, is money that would have built several classroom blocks or treated patients at our public hospitals or graded a few roads. It would have not only improved the standard of living of hundreds or even thousands of Ugandans, but would also give them a chance to climb up the social ladder by providing a better education or underwrote a healthier life or created access to markets for goods and services.

Secondly, the corrupt in an attempt to launder their money buy assets such as land and buildings or go into business. That would not be a bad thing and may even be beneficial to the economy through increased economic activity, job creation and maybe even increased tax collection. But because the corrupt do not have to factor in the cost of money in their business plans, they distort the market for everyone, squeezing the genuine businessmen out and often times damaging the market irreparably as they also collapse for lack of business acumen.

But corruption has an even deadlier impact on society. If it thrives it provides the wrong incentives to the young and impressionable. It destroys the argument for hard and diligent work as the way to achieve wealth that is durable and sustainable. Why slog hours at a desk, spend years climbing up the corporate ladder or even take the risks and work tirelessly to build a durable business?

Our youth are being seduced by the fast life attained even faster, realising too late that the old fashioned virtues of honesty, thrift and good reputation are what one should aim for rather than making a quick buck.

This last point is particularly worrying. Because if we do not reconfigure our society’s incentives, corruption far from being the new normal will be the only way to do anything, making our economy unattractive to investors and development partners – local or foreign dooming our nation to mediocrity and hopelessness for years to come

A few years ago it was estimated that up to sh500b annually goes missing from state coffers. This figure has probably grown since it was first mooted, but for an economy like ours that is a lot of money and missed opportunity to uplift the living standards of thousands of Ugandans.

According to next financial year’s Budget Framework Paper, government has earmarked just over a hundred billion shillings for maintenance of roads around the country. If a road is tarmarced or even just graded and made all weather, it unlocks the economic potential of whole areas. The farmers can produce more because the trucks can get closer to their fields, the transporters save money in wear and tear costs from driving on smoother roads, the end consumer gets goods at better prices because of increased competition from numerous suppliers.

It would not be a stretch to say that for every shilling used on roads, a few more shillings in additional economic activity for an area’s population is the result.

But when a handful of people eat this money, the net effect is minimal for the society at large – they may buy houses, distribute some charity but are most likely than not going to book a holiday abroad.
That the fight against corruption is critical and urgent cannot be overstated. The benefits of a reduction in corruption will be immediate and far reaching. This anti-corruption drive must succeed.

(APRIL 2017)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OIL: WE NEED TO GET OUR ACT TOGETHER… YESTERDAY

(Published February, 2017) We are on the cusp of an important period in the history of this country and whether we can derive maximum advantage from this will depend on our capacity to put aside petty rivalries and come together as the business community. Over the next three years at least $20b or almost the size of the entire economy will be spent in readying us for first oil. This money will be spent on building infrastructure in the oil bearing areas of western Uganda, on our side of the oil pipeline to the Tanzanian port of Tanga, on the oil refinery and any number of things that will be needed to support oil production. About $3b (sh11trillion) was spent during the exploration phase of which less than three in every ten shillings   or about sh3trillion went to local contractors and suppliers. But this happened over eight years. This despite our local disorganisation and ignorance of the industry and its dynamics. However we should not be content with t...
Post a Comment
Read more

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION, ITS NOW TIME TO WORK….

Thousands of students will be graduating from their respective universities in coming days and months. Makerere, our country’s oldest university will kick off its ceremonies on January 15th and the other universities will follow. The graduates have already had a taste of the real life, having finished their studies mid last year and tried to get employed. Many know by now that the world can be harsh and unforgiving. I hope many are tightening their belts in readiness for the struggle ahead. Some may have decided to kick the tin down the road by continuing with school. And others may have given up altogether. My prayer is that there are more of the first and less of the last kind. In talking to young people, I find that what is needed is a reorientation of their minds – a mindset change. Let me share with you certain facts to help manage their expectations of the world and how they can fulfil their potential in our context. First of all, the world owes you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE MUKWANO I KNEW

We have lost the greatest Ugandan entrepreneur of our time, Mr Amirali Karmali, more popularly known as Mzee Mukwano. I have known Mzee Mukwano for more than 40 years and most of what I am today is due to him. And I am not alone. "He has helped countless people through school – as he did me. Helped countless more in business – as he did me. And he has been a steadfast friend and source of support to countless more – as he was to me.... I first met Mukwano around about 1977. My mother was the secretary for the chief of operations at Uganda Airlines, a man I knew only as Hamid. Mukwano had come to charter the Uganda Airlines’ Hercules plane and I happened to be around the office then. He was a short man, an unassuming man, but clearly a serious businessman who would charter the plane to bring in goods that were in high demand here. He run a popular whole sale shop in Nakasero – Egesa Commercial Agencies, a beehive of activity and the go-to place for anythin...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE KEYS TO OUR HEALTH ARE WITHIN OUR REACH

I prefer to speak about business. But it is obvious to me as it should be to everybody, that the fruits of business can’t be enjoyed without good health. As we progress in age we need to take care of our health more than before, focus on prevention because our bodies can no longer bounce back from illness as fast as they used to. The other day I happened upon a Facebook video from Dr Luke Coutinho, an Indian doctor who treats cancer patients. He made a wonderful video that moved me -- “Four things people with cancer have in common.” Look it up. Coutinho, in the video said that when he looked at the data from hundreds of patients, from all over the world, that had been treated at his facility he found four commonalities. The first one he said was chronic constipation. He explained that constipation, infrequent bowel movement, means the body is retaining toxins that should not be there. These toxins then find their way back into our bodies and provide the environment fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

FINANCING OUR ENTREPRENEURS, A CHALLENGE WE CANNOT IGNORE

In recent weeks the issues of financing for business has been in the news, in one form or the other. We have seen the challenge a past minister is facing with having to hang onto his home. The case is in court, so we can’t discuss its merits and demerits, just to say he may have fallen prey to some predatory practices, with the lender skirting dangerously on the edge of the law. Across the border in Kenya a cap on bank lending rates has been repealed. Three years ago Kenya’s parliament passed a law restricting lending rates to two percentage points above the rate at which the central bank lent money. In reaction banks pulled back their lending to businesses, depressing the economy and prompting the reversal. So now banks can “properly” price their loans, often to the discomfort of small and medium sized businesses. The two incidents are related and speak to the availability and cost of credit. In my business career I have benefitted immensely from credit. It is next...
Post a Comment
Read more

DEAL WITH PLASTICS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

The first rainy season seems to have passed. Not too soon for some of us. It has become standard now that with the rains come the floods and with every season these become not only more and more daunting, but spread all over Kampala. While KCCA has done a lot of work in improving drainage, we are undoing the good work with our bad habits. Everyday we dispose of tons of plastic improperly, these find their way into the existing drainage systems of this city. These cause blockages, which we go about blissfully unaware of until the rainy season begins. The rainwater not only struggles to go past existing blockages but comes along with its own load of plastics to reinforce the existing blockage. The water, which should be finding its way to Lake Victoria, swells out of the drains and finds its way onto the road, into our offices and our homes. That’s the simplified version of events.  This is before we even start examining how we are building in the wetlands ...
Post a Comment
Read more

OUR HISTORICAL SITES SHOULD NOT GO UNATTENDED TO

Recently I was at Makerere University to attend a wedding ceremony. I hadn’t been on the university’s grounds in a while. I was shocked at how run down Mary Stuart and Lumumba Halls were. They are in need of serious work. These thoughts were reawakened with the recent launch of the coffee table book “Beyond the Reeds and Bricks” promoted by the tourism ministry, the cross cultural foundation of Uganda and the European Union Delegation. The book which is aimed at the protection of historical sites and buildings in Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja, is a moving collection of pictures of buildings and sites we know, but probably take for granted when we pass them as we go about our business. "Entebe za Mugula in Entebbe, Mackay’s Cave, the post office in Entebbe, the Stanbic Bank Branch in Jinja, Hamu Mukasa’s house in Mengo, the main building at Makerere , the Bahai Temple, Kibuli mosque and many other sites have pride of place among the 60 pictures in this book, which is ...
Post a Comment
Read more